Air conditioning terminal units

ABSTRACT

Conditioned air is supplied through a terminal unit mounted in a ceiling with a ceiling space above it. The unit is arranged to cause air in the space to be induced through the discharge aperture in the ceiling in variable amounts by the flow of conditioned air through the aperture.

United States Patent [191 Spoormalrer AIR CONDITIONING TERMINAL UNITS Hendrik J. Spoormaker, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa Inventor:

Anlibema (Proprietary) Ltd., Pretoria, Transmeal, Republic of South Africa June 11, 1971 Assignee:

Filed:

Appl. No.: 152,432

Related U.S. Application Data Continuation of Ser. No. 809,916, March 24, 1969,

abandoned.

U.S. Cl. ..98/38, 98/40 B Int. Cl. ..F24f 13/06 Field of Search ..98/38, 40 D, 40 C,

98/40 B, 40, 38 E, 38 B; 236/49, 13

[4s] May-i5, 1973 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,517,601 6/1970 Courchesne ..98/38 X 2,418,266 4/1947 Kurth et al ..98/40 B 3,390,720 7/1968 Meckler ...236/l3 X 2,418,266 4/1947 Kuith et al ..98/38 X 3,114,505 12/1963 Kennedy ..236/1 3 3,299,797 1/1967 Dry "98/40 3,361,157 1/1968 Schach ...l37/489 Primary Examiner-William E. Wayner A tr0rne v Markva & Smith [57] ABSTRACT Conditioned air is supplied through a terminal unit mounted in a ceiling with a ceiling space above it. The unit is arranged to cause .air in the space to be induced through the discharge aperture in the ceiling in variable amounts by the flow of conditioned air through the aperture.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATHH H] MY 1 51975 SHEET 2 [IF 3 PAH-1mm HAY] 51873 SHEET 3 [IF 3 AIR CONDITIONING TERMINAL UNITS This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 809,916 filed Mar. 24, 1969, now abandoned.

This invention relates to air conditioning terminal units.

It has already been proposed to condition a space by means of a primary stream of conditioned air at superambient pressure and a secondary air. stream which is in effect hot air from the space which is being backcirculated from a ceiling space. One such proposal is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,114,505. In this case the flow of conditioned air induced air from a ceiling space is caused to flow into the conditioned space. For temperature regulation dampers in both the primary air stream and the induced air stream are used and these dampers have to be carefully linked to ensure that under all conditions the total air circulation into the conditioned space remains the same.

Another proposal of the kind in question is contained in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 753,564 filed Aug. 19, 1967. In this case the primary air stream is split into two portions, one portion flowing at a constant rate and inducing air flow from the conditioned space or a ceiling space and the other portion being so controlled and directed that as flow in the second portion is reduced, more induced air circulation takes place and vice versa.

An object of the invention is to provide a terminal unit which is adapted to handle only two air streams and which has a single control.

According to the invention there is provided an air conditioning terminal unit comprising a plenum for connection to a source of primary air, the plenum or a passage from the plenum terminating in an aperture'in a barrier surface so that primary air is discharged through the aperture to a first-side of the barrier surface, and a damper movable in the aperture between a first position in which a predetermined minimum area of the aperture is connected to the plenum while the remainder of the area of the aperture is in communication with the second side of the barrier surface for the induction through the aperture of secondary air from the second side of the barrier surface, and a second position in which flow of secondary air from the second side of the barrier surface through the aperture is at least substantially wholly prevented.

According to a feature of the invention the plenum is connected to a passage which terminates in the aperture and the passage is provided with a secondary air inlet which communicates with the second side of the barrier surface.

According to another feature of the invention the damper in moving between its first and second positions, moves parallel to at least one wall of the passage, this wall containing the secondary air inlet.

According to one form of the invention the whole area of the aperture is connected to the plenum when the damper is in the second position.

According to a feature of this form of the invention the damper in its second position at least substantially obturates the secondary air inlet.

According to an alternative feature of this form of the invention the damper in its second position wholly obturates the secondary air inlet.

According to a feature of another form of the inven tion the damper is pivotable between its two positions.

Still further according to the invention means are provided, preferably a radiant heater, to heat the air leaving the aperture when the damper is in the first position.

Usually the unit is ceiling mounted, the barrier surface being part of the ceiling which has conventional means for allowing hot air to pass into the ceiling space from which it is withdrawn in any suitable or conventional way.

The aperture and the damper are so chosen as to maintain a substantially constant flow of air into the room below the ceiling.

The present invention is further described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, preferred embodiments of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 is a section through a terminal unit according a first embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a section through a terminal unit according to a second embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 3 is a sectional taken along the line 3-3 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the terminal unit of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 5 is a section through a terminal unit according to a third embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a'unit which has length in the direction normal to the paper. The chosen length will depend on the circumstances.

A conditioned air duct 2 connected to a source of conditioned air at superambient pressure leads to a plenum 3. The plenum 3 opens into an aperture defined between an edge 4 and a detachable lip 5 which may be lined on the inside with sound-absorbing material. The edge 4 is formed by a fixed plate 6 and a damper 7 which is shown in its first position in full line. The dot ted line indicates the second position of the damper 7.

The whole unit is mounted above a ceiling 8.

The damper 7 is operated by means of a damper operator 9 which is in fact a linear motor.

With the damper or divider member 7 in the full line position, air from the plenum 3 has full access to the space below the ceiling 8 and passes into that space at a relatively low velocity. As the damper moves down the effective aperture for plenum, air'decreases so that less conditioned air enters the space, but at a higher velocity. At this higher velocity the induced circulation increases. However, since the space above the. ceiling 8 has access to the aperture through the gap between the plate 6 and the damper 7, air from the ceiling space is also induced into the space below the ceiling. As the air above the'ceiling is warmcr'than the air below, there is a sensible heat contribution to the air which circulates in the space below the ceiling.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 the unit is mounted in a ceiling I0. The unit has a body 11 composed of a cylindrical center portion 12 a plenum for connection to a source of primary conditioned air and a truncated outwardly flaring member 13 formed with apertures I4. Fixed to the body is a face plate or baffle member I5 which defines a discharge nozzle between it and the outwardly flaring member I3. A damper generally indicated at 16 which consists of a cylindrical portion,l7 and a truncated divider member 18 which can be moved up and down in the direction of the arrow by an operator l9.

In use, the damper 16 moves between a predetermined position where there is a predetermined gap 20 between it and the baffle member 15 and a position where there is a predetermined gap 21 between it and the body 11.

The top of the body 11 is connected to the conditioned air supply source (not shown) and air flows through the gap 20 at all times. The size of the gap 21 with the damper 16 in its upper position is such that substantially no air is induced from the space above the ceiling through the apertures 14 At positions below this, air is induced through the apertures 14 by the flow of conditioned air through the gap resulting in a higher air volume discharged from the unit than the flow of conditioned air from the conditioned air plenum and thereby raising the supply temperature in the same proportion with quantity of the induced air.

The terminal unit shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 includes means (not shown) responsive to the lowest position of the damper to switch on a heater acting in combination with the terminal unit.

The unit shown in FIG. 5 is substantially similar to the unit of FIG. 1. The operator 22 is outside the air duct for ease of accessibility. The damper 23 does not close against the edge 24 and is hinged to move to the dotted line position shown.

Below the unit of FIG. 5 there is a radiant heater with a reflector 25 and a heating element 26. This heater is switched on when the damper 23 is in its dotted line position by means ofa microswitch 27 actuated by the operator 22.

Thus at minimum conditioning air flow extra radiant heat is supplied to the room below.

I claim:

1. An apparatus supplying conditioned air into an enclosure comprising:

a. a terminal air discharge unit adapted for installation in an opening in a wall of the enclosure;

b. a plenum for supplying primary air to said terminal unit;

0. means in said wall for supplying secondary air from a space above the enclosure to said terminal unit for intermixture with and to temper the primary air discharged from said terminal unit;

d. said terminal unit comprising an outwardly flaring member and a baffle member defining a discharge nozzle;

e. said flaring member being apertured to admit secondary air into said discharge nozzle, and

f. a divider member displaceable in said discharge nozzle relative to the said apertured member to regulate the proportion of primary air and secondary air discharged into the enclosure.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the divider is mounted for movement between end positions in one of which the whole area of the aperture is in communi cation with the plenum.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the divider is mounted for pivotal movement.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the divider is mounted for movement parallel to itself.

5. In apparatus for conditioning the air in an enclosed space, a terminal unit comprising: a frame adapted to be mounted over an opening in a boundary of the space, an aperture in the frame to register with the opening, a flared skirt forming part of the frame, the free edge of which defines the outer edge of the aperture, an orifice in the skirt, and a plenum, for primary air, mounted on the frame and in communication with the aperture in the frame, characterized by: a divider movable within the aperture to proportion flow of air through the aperture of primary air from inside the pie num and secondary air from outside it, and means to adjust the divider; the divider being flared complementally to the skirt and being parallel with the skirt, and being so movable as to remain parallel with the skirt.

6. The unit of claim Sin which the flared skirt and the flared divider are respectively constituted by a first truncated cone and a second truncated cone arranged concentrically with the first truncated cone, the second cone being-movable vertically along its axis towards and away from the first cone.

7. The unit of claim 5 in which the barrier is horizontal and circular.

8. The unit of claim 5 including a planar barrier that is part of the frame and the peripheral edge of which defines the inner edge of the aperture.

* III k 

1. An apparatus supplying conditioned air into an enclosure comprising: a. a terminal air discharge unit adapted for installation in an opening in a wall of the enclosure; b. a plenum for supplying primary air to said terminal unit; c. means in said wall for supplying secondary air from a space above the enclosure to said terminal unit for intermixture with and to temper the primary air discharged from said terminal unit; d. said terminal unit comprising an outwardly flaring member and a baffle member defining a discharge nozzle; e. said flaring member being apertured to admit secondary air into said discharge nozzle, and f. a divider member displaceable in said discharge nozzle relative to the said apertured member to regulate the proportion of primary air and secondary air discharged into the enclosure.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the divider is mounted for movement between end positions in one of which the whole area of the aperture is in communication with the plenum.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the divider is mounted for pivotal movement.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the divider is mounted for movement parallel to itself.
 5. In apparatus for conditioning the air in an enclosed space, a terminal unit comprising: a frame adapted to be mounted over an opening in a boundary of the space, an aperture in the frame to register with the opening, a flared skirt forming part of the frame, the free edge of which defines the outer edge of the aperture, an orifice in the skirt, and a plenum, for primary air, mounted on the frame and in communication with the aperture in the frame, characterized by: a divider movable within the aperture to proportion flow of air through the aperture of primary air from inside the plenum and secondary air from outside it, and means to adjust the divider; the divider being flared complementally to the skirt and being parallel with the skirt, and being so movable as to remain parallel with the skirt.
 6. The unit of claim 5 in which the flared skirt and the flared divider are respectively constituted by a first truncated cone and a second truncated cone arranged concentrically with the first truncated cone, the second cone being movable vertically along its axis towards and away from the first cone.
 7. The unit of claim 5 in which the barrier is horizontal and circular.
 8. The unit of claim 5 including a planar barrier that is part of the frame and the peripheral edge of which defines the inner edge of the aperture. 